Shatter My Reflection
by Breathe the Shadows
Summary: Did you know that Winter dated Kai before Jacin? Did you know that Cress was entirely friendless throughout eleventh grade? Did you know that Cinder has always been an animal-lover? Did you know that Scarlet is the school's best female athlete? Well, they say anything's possible. And it is, when Cinder and company are at Lunar High School, standing together.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone, and welcome to this _Lunar Chronicles_ fanfic! **

**Did you know that Winter dated Kai before she found Jacin? Did you know that Cress was entirely friendless throughout eleventh grade? Did you know that Cinder has always been an animal-lover? Did you know that Scarlet is probably the school's best female athlete?**

 **Anything's possible in Lunar High School.**

 **Here, Cinder and company, all high-schoolers, face problems together as well as alone, and despite the looming threats that bear down upon them, they will succeed if they stand together.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Shatter My Reflection**_

 **\- Breathe the Shadows**

* * *

 _Her fist pounded exasperatedly_ _against_ _the_ cold surface of her dorm room door. She had tried the key three times already, but it just kept getting stuck. One of the office secretaries had told her that her room, 512, as well as a few others, were rather old, so it would take a few tries to get the key through well enough.

Cress gritted her teeth. If she had to give it even _one more try_ after this...

She did, and fortunately, there were no people near enough to hear the string of curses she muttered under her breath. Cress would never dare say any of them aloud, but as long as no one heard her, she could curse and swear under her breath as long as she wanted.

Her roommate, the secretary had told her, would arrive later on in the day; she had called in to tell them that she would arrive in the afternoon, probably around one. School began tomorrow; Cress wondered if her roommate - whatever her name was - would have enough time to set up.

The key clicked, and the door handle turned. Cress let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. _Final year of high school, here I come._

Cress breathed in for longer than necessary and pushed open the dorm room door, smiling uncontrollably.

It was a reasonably large room, as it had to fit the two of them - larger than it had been last year, probably because she was a senior, now. There were two beds, obviously, and one headboard was labeled _Cress_ and the other _Cinder,_ probably the name of her roommate. _Cinder? What type of name is Cinder?_

She walked over to her side of the room, nearly forgetting to bring her suitcase inside with her - she had to go back midway to get it - and was about to throw herself joyfully onto the springy-looking bed, when something made her stop short.

There was a slip of paper on her pillow.

A large red scrawl, messy but still legible, covered the side that was facing up. Leaning closer, Cress made out the words _This is the last year we'll all have to deal with you._

Cress stared at it again, reading and rereading the note, checking to see if she had read it right. Yes, there it was, no matter how many times she read it: _This is the last year we'll all have to deal with you._ What a wonderful start to senior year. The note wasn't signed, but there wasn't any room on the paper, anyway.

She felt tears rise to her eyes, but she blinked them back. _No, Cress,_ she told herself. _You'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with you._

Cress hugged her hair around her like a protective blanket - it had been a habit ever since her hair had grown past her feet. She still hadn't bothered to cut it, and now, whenever she let it loose, like now, it was always a hassle, getting in the way of people's feet.

She lifted the slip of paper with shaking hands and shoved it desperately into her suitcase. _When my roommate comes in, if she sees it in the trash, what will she think?_ Then, another thought. _I hope she's nice... and I hope she becomes my friend, this year._

All throughout junior year, Cress had been alone during break and lunch, and had requested a single dorm room; she had no friends ever since her best friend, Julie, had left the school. Hopefully, she could get through senior year with someone at her side.

Without bothering to take off her shoes, Cress threw herself onto the bed, satisfaction running through her as the soft mattress bounced under her weight. She wasn't heavy; in fact, one of her goals in senior year was to clear five feet, but it had strong bedsprings - which she had always loved.

Lying on her back, Cress looked around the room. She froze, mid-yawn, in shock, staring all around her, again and again.

The tears that had risen to her eyes earlier returned, but again, she blinked them back. No. Not this year. This year, she would be strong. She wouldn't let them fall, anymore. Her vision blurred from tears, but she didn't move to wipe them away.

Anyway, if she wiped one tear away, more would fall; she had learned that from past experience.

How had she not noticed it upon walking into the room? There were more slips of paper, tacked to the wall using tape. There was one also written in red marker across the window: _Don't look down. That's just one more place to fall._

Leaping out of the bed, Cress practically yanked the curtains shut. Her hands found something to do as she tore the taped messages from the wall, not bothering when she tore parts of the flowery wallpaper, too.

A single tear slid out of her eyes as Cress walked slowly into the bathroom and tore out a sheet of paper towel and wetted it in the sink. She didn't look up. She didn't want to see how tear-stricken and panicked and _red_ her face must have looked.

A choked sound made its way out of Cress's throat, despite her efforts to restrain it, and she slowly opened the curtains, her vision blurring with tears so much that she couldn't tell what the message on her window said, anymore.

Not that she _wanted_ to know.

Cress feverishly scrubbed at the window with the paper towel, checking, double checking, and _triple_ checking when she was done to make sure none of it remained. Crumpling it and tossing the wet, marker-stained remains of the paper towel into the trash, Cress pushed herself onto the bed, looking down at all the scattered messages that she had torn off the walls.

 _Get rid of that long, ugly hair. You're just a big, useless hastle in the hallways, getting it tangled around everyone's feet._

 _Don't even try in senior year. You're gonna fail._

 _You can't run away. I'm relishing every word that I'm writing: you're as good as dead._

 _No one wants you around._

 _What's wrong with you? All you're good for is dragging around some dead hair and tripping people with it._

 _Everyone walks the other way when you get close._

 _People's feet have seen better places than your hair._

 _Wherever you try to hide, you're going to be found in the end. Wasn't hide-and-seek always your favorite game?_

 _You don't deserve to be here._

Cress didn't try to stop herself as tears ran down her cheeks. Right now, she was trying to swallow the crying sound in her throat. She buried her face into the pillow, letting the tears soak the part of the pillow underneath her.

She cried until it seemed that she had no tears left, until her throat had gone dry, until she felt completely useless.

She cried even when she ran out of tears, not bothering to hold back the choked sounds and ragged breathing.

She cried without knowing what she had done wrong.

 _Who would do this?_ she asked herself, her throat still blocked and her heart still heavy. _Why would anyone do this to me? And... how did whoever did this get into this room in the first place?_ Cress closed her eyes for a long moment, trying to let her mind clear.

 _Unless it was my roommate... Cinder, I think._ _But they said she wouldn't be here until later on. And I've never even seen her before. What would she have against me?_

 _So if it's not her, who is this?_

 _I can't believe anything these notes are saying,_ Cress told herself. _Just be yourself, Cress, and don't let anything get to you._

Cress finally sat up when she figured that it wasn't just the crying that was making it hard to breathe; it was also the fact that her face was in the pillow. The sunlight from her window seemed too harsh, all of a sudden. She clambered off the bed, desperate to give herself something to do, and closed the curtains. She fidgeted with her hands, trying to get her mind off the harsh messages. Everything seemed dull, now - not as bright as they had seemed earlier.

She had no idea how long she had just been lying there when she herad footsteps, and the sound of a key being placed in the keyhole outside.

Cress sat up, and, as quickly as possible, she opened an empty pouch of her suitcase - the smallest one, in the front - and shoved all the messages inside. Zipping it up with shaking hands, Cress jumped back and sat up, folding her hands neatly above her lap.

The door opened.

Cress watched as a girl with brown hair that reached to her upper back walked in, dragging a suitcase about the same size as Cress's after her. Cress's gaze fluttered to her hand - it was _metal._ A prosthetic limb. She hoped the surprise didn't show on her face.

The girl - her roommate - fixed her with a dark amber stare. It was probably obvious from her red, tear-stained face that she had been crying, and Cress wished she could just disappear from the scene. The girl looked curious, but she didn't press Cress with any uncomfortable questions.

"Hi, I'm Cinder." Her voice was cool and composed, as she gestured to the name inscribed on the headboard of her bed.

Cress nodded. _So that_ is _her name._ "I'm Cress."

"I know." Cinder's reply was quick and sharp, and Cress's bright blue eyes flashed back up quickly. But then, her gaze softened as she saw the grin on Cinder's face. "Sorry I'm late. But we get to spend the rest of the night together. Not to mention, the rest of the _school year_ together."

"I haven't seen you around before. Are you new here?" The question left Cress's mouth before she knew it, and she immediately ducked her head, hoping she hadn't asked the wrong question.

Cinder didn't seem to take any offense by it. "No. I haven't seen you around, either, but I've heard of you. You and your famous hair."

Cress flinched. All she could think of now was the note: _Get rid of that long, ugly hair. You're just a big, useless hastle in the hallways, getting it tangled around everyone's feet._ At least Cinder hadn't said _in_ famous. But she probably didn't mean anything by her comment. After all, how was she to know about the notes?

Cinder raised an eyebrow at Cress's reaction, but didn't comment. "So, I guess tonight is all for getting ready for tomorrow and hanging out with your roommate, isn't it? I guess you're stuck with me, then!" She grinned, and Cress smiled back.

"Yeah, I guess so. Do you want to compare schedules?" _She seems nice,_ Cress thought. _I wonder if she'll be a friend, this year._

"Sure, why not?" Cinder lay her suitcase down and opened it, and Cress widened her already-large eyes slightly as she saw the mess inside. Clothes, papers, notebooks, and all other things were scattered everywhere. Quite a contrast from hers. Of course, Aunt Sybil had helped her, because she didn't trust Cress to bring what was actually school-related. _Annoying._ "Sorry. I don't really care too much to organize everything." Again, that teasing grin.

Cress stood up, swallowing. "Tonight is also for fitting into your room. I'll help you organize everything, if you want." Immediately, she sat down again, slightly embarrassed. She _never_ said anything like that, to anyone. Hopefully, she could, though, if Cinder became her friend.

"Thanks, Cress!" Cinder turned to look at her for a split second. "But I'm just warning you: it's probably going to all get messed up in the first week of school." She continued rummaging through the suitcase, and random bits and pieces were getting casually tossed out.

Cress walked over to her and sat on her bed. Her eyes widened for a moment, startled at herself, and stood up. "Sorry."

"You don't have to be so nervous," Cinder replied. "You're my friend."

Cress felt a smile growing to her face. _She's my friend. I've really got a friend, now._ Slowly, she sat down again on Cinder's bed. "What _is_ all of that stuff?" She eyed the metal bits and pieces - screws, nails, and other random parts.

"I... uh..." It was the first time Cress had seen Cinder struggle for words. Then again, she had known her five minutes. "...I guess you might say I'm good at fixing things. I worked as a mechanic over summer... nothing _big,_ just a small stand in the garage."

"That's pretty cool," Cress replied, and she meant it.

Cinder shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. What did you do over the summer?"

"Not much." Cress felt a blush rising to her cheeks, and she tried her best to fight it back down. She hated it, absolutely _hated_ _it,_ when she turned red against her will so often. "I'm okay at making programs, disabling things... pretty much anything to do with technology."

"That's awesome!" Cinder smiled, and Cress was _sure_ she was blushing, now.

Then, in what she hoped sounded like a teasing tone, she quoted, " _It's okay, I guess."_

Cinder laughed as she dug through piles of what seemed like useless junk to Cress. Finally, she whipped out a paper. "There. I found it." Though she was kneeling, she managed a bow, and Cress grinned. _She's really nice._ She stared pointedly at Cress's empty hands. "Don't tell me you haven't found yours yet!"

Cress shook her head. "No. I'm organized." She gulped as she realized what she had jsut implied. "I mean... well... you know..."

Cinder laughed. "Yeah, I do."

"Here!" Cress pulled out her schedule out of a thin red folder in her backpack. She adjusted her dark red shirt, pulling it down at the sides, and walked - or rather, jogged - over to sit down besides Cinder again. "What do you have first?"

Cinder narrowed her eyes, reading. "English 12 Honors. With Mr. Garan."

"Same here!" Cress's face lit up. At least she would have a friend in her first period class, maybe more.

"And then?"

"AP Physics." Cress frowned. "Sounds boring. Science has never been my favorite. What do you have?"

Cinder looked at her schedule. She frowned, and seemed to be reading it again. Her frown deepened, her eyes darkening. A gulp. "PE."

"Why is that so bad?" From the look on Cinder's face, Cress could tell that Cinder didn't want to go. But what was wrong? There wasn't anything unusual about her... oh. Wait. Right. "Oh, right. Sorry." Cress felt her face grow warm again.

"Doesn't matter." Cinder flapped her hand.

Cress lowered her eyes. "I hope you don't mind me asking... but... uh... how... why did you... uh... why do you have... _new_ limbs?" She didn't know how to say it in the least offensive way. She ducked her head, half-expecting Cinder to stand up and walk away angrily.

"It's okay. You can say _prosthetic._ " Cinder shrugged casually, and Cress looked up gratefully. "So many people have asked me that. You're not the first. It's not much of an explanation, really. I was hit by a car when I was three, and it ran over one hand and one leg."

"One _leg_?" Cress's gaze automatically fell to her leg, but she was wearing boots. That was probably why, anyway.

Cinder nodded, stretching across with her non-metal hand to tug off her boot with a bit of effort. Sure enough, her leg was prosthetic, too. Cinder shrugged, studying her reaction. "The doctors decided that they couldn't fix my injuries so they removed my limbs and gave me new ones."

"I'm sorry." Cress's voice came out as a hoarse whisper. Cinder had been through so much... and here she was, flinging her hair around and complaining that she didn't have friends. Her muscles tightened for a moment, as she remembered. _What's wrong with you? All you're good for is dragging around some dead hair and tripping people with it._

"Don't be." Cinder shrugged casually. "I barely remember it."

Cress sighed. "I was pitying myself all of last year because I didn't have any friends and I wandered around alone. But I can't believe what you've been through." Her voice came out strange and hoarse, almost as if it belonged to someone else.

To her surprise, Cinder placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Cress. What happened to me was so long ago. But for you - stars, I can't even _start_ to think how awful that must have been. Without friends in _high_ _school_." She shook her head, and Cress was at a loss for words. "Anyway, now. After we're done, I'll take you to meet some of my friends. You'll be fine."

 _Friends._

The prospect of having friends again rang in her mind. But did she deserve all of Cinder's friendship and kindness? It would be so wonderful to have friends again, but she might just end up being a burden to Cinder and her group. She shook her head, slowly. "I don't think they'll even _like_ me."

"Seriously?" Cinder rolled her eyes. "What's _not_ to like about you?" Cress opened her mouth to object, but Cinder cut her off. "I'm taking you whether you like it or not - _even_ if it means that I have to drag you all the way." Cress wrapped her long hair around her wrists, a nervous habit, but nodded anyway, chewing on her lower lip.

"Thanks, Cinder." And she meant it.

Cinder grinned. "So what do you have next?"

"AP Calculus with Ms. Kesley." Cress glowered. "I really suck at math. I hate it so much."

"Don't worry about it. You'll do fine." Cinder flashed her an encouraging grin. "I have AP American History. I was supposed to take it last year, but I procrastinated." She grinned again. "I guess you might call me an eminent figure in the procrastination industry."

Cress tried to suppress her smile but eventually burst out laughing. Her face lit up as she looked at her schedule. "I have Advanced Programming next!" She practically squealed the words, but Cinder didn't seem to care. She just smiled.

"You like that, don't you? Because of all your programming and hacking experience?" Cinder asked, and Cress nodded. "Well, I have _my_ favorite subject, too. Mechanical Engineering." She grinned. "There's only one elective like that in the entire school, so I've taken it all four years."

"You're joking."

"No, I'm not." Cinder threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Just imagine, you are me. And you really love mechanical engineering, but there's only one. What would _you_ do?" she challenged. _She does have a point..._

"Fair enough." Cress shrugged. "Next, PE for me. I'm okay, I guess."

"I have AP Physics."

Cress looked down again. "I have Theater." Cinder raised her eyebrows. "I... uh... I like singing, even though I'm not that good... I like acting, too. I'm terrible at both." She felt a blush creeping into her cheeks, and she fought it back down.

"Sing." Cinder's voice was cool and casual.

" _What_?" Cress stared at Cinder. "No way!"

Cinder nodded. "Yes. Come on! Sing, Cress. Please!" Her dark amber eyes grew round and large, staring at Cress, as Cinder made an attempt at a puppy-dog face, and, Cress had to admit, she actually found that it was quite convincing.

Cress sighed. Her face was probably _entirely_ red, by now. Thank the stars Cinder had the decency not to point it out. "All right, nothing too big."

 _"But I'm only human_

 _And I bleed when I fall down_

 _But I'm only human_

 _And I crash and I break down_

 _Your words in my head, knives in my heart_

 _You build me up and I fall apart_

 _'Cause I'm only human."_

Cress opened her eyes and found Cinder staring at her, awe etched all over her face. Cinder burst into applause. "Dang. That was _good,_ Cress. I just heard Christina Perri singing, not you. Like... you sounded _better_ than her. You're amazing."

"Are you kidding? I was terrible!" Cress still found herself blushing.

Cinder rolled her eyes. "You must be insane. You _have_ to try out for the play this year. I hear that they're doing _The Little Mermaid._ You'd be _great,_ and-"

"Hold on!" Cress's eyes widened. "Are you _joking_? I can't sing in front of the entire school. It'll make me look like an idiot. I sound like a dying mongoose as it is, and you want _everyone_ to hear it?" She was sure that the exclamations were making her even redder than she already was.

"A 'dying mongoose'?" Cinder managed a small smile. "That's a new one." She crossed her arms. "But you're _not_ terrible, Cress. You're awesome."

 _She's kidding._ "But I still am _not_ trying out for the play."

"Come on!"

"No way." It was probably the first time Cress had ever sounded so certain on a decision when she was talking to a friend. Never. It was always shy, quiet Cress who was almost always embarrassed about something. Who no one ever thought would speak up. "Anyway, what do you have sixth?"

"Honors Statistics with Mr. Tanner." Cinder shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess, but nothing brilliant."

Cress managed a small smile. "That's it, I guess."

Cinder raised her eyebrows. "What now?" Cress found herself staring at Cinder's foot. _How has she managed PE all along?_ Cress wished there was _some way_ at all that she could help Cinder recover so much that she wouldn't need it. But that was impossible.

She realized that Cinder was staring at her, waiting for a reply. "Let's get this place organized. _You_ first," she added, with a small smirk. "You need the organization skills."

* * *

Half an hour later, all of Cinder's things had been neatly arranged: a small bin full of the little metal bits and pieces; a _closet_ mostly full of all her clothes - which weren't very appealing, but Cinder somehow found them pleasing; a box full of all stationery, etc.

Even Cinder seemed impressed.

Cress grinned, having become slightly more comfortable around Cinder than before. "So take out what you're going to wear tomorrow, to school - _without knocking over the rest of the things in the closet._ " Cinder flashed her a teasing grin and randomly reached in and pulled out a shirt and grease-stained jeans.

Cress frowned, and stared skeptically at the combination. A t-shirt with orange and green stripes, and a pair of maroon jeans covered in grease that looked horrible with the shirt. "Cinder... another thing you've got to learn by the end of the year is _how to choose your clothing wisely._ "

"I'm just not that type of person," Cinder explained, crossing her arms.

"There's a limit to how far that excuse can go," Cress retorted, surprised at herself. "Come on, I'll get you something better." Rooting around the closet, Cress finally pulled something out: a dark blue shirt with slight ruffles on the sleeves, and light blue jeans.

Cinder shrugged. "That actually looks pretty good."

She felt the warmth spread beneath her cheeks; she was blushing, _again._ Cress took the original choice of clothes from her and put them back into the closet, leaving the final one on Cinder's bed. She looked around Cinder's side of the room, and found nothing out of place. She managed a small smile.

"Your turn." Cress jumped in surprise when she heard Cinder's voice from right next to her. "Let's go organize _your_ stuff." Before Cress could say anything, Cinder had already crossed over to her side of the room and was opening her luggage.

"I'd never thought you'd actually _organize_ something out of your own free will," Cress said, and instantly felt embarrassed. She lowered her head, feeling heat rise to her face, then saw Cinder turn her head to face her.

"Stop being like that!" Cress flinched, and Cinder put a hand on her shoulder. "It makes _me_ feel awkward when you're so nervous. You're fine. I'm your _friend._ You don't have to be so worried that you'll say something wrong or make a mistake or something."

Cress looked up. "Sorry."

"Whatever." Cinder kept taking out everything in her suitcase and piling it onto the bed. And opened all pouches, just to check.

A protest escaped Cress's mouth before she could stop it. "Wait, Cinder! There's nothing in there!" Cinder had been opening the pouch where she had stuffed all the anonymous messages. At Cinder's questioning look, she improvised, "I... uh... I already checked this pouch and the one in front of it." She hoped she didn't sound _too_ desperate.

Cinder lifted her hands. "If you say so."

Cress started putting all of her clothes - much finer than Cinder's collection, though that wasn't saying much - into her closet. She piled some neatly on top of each other, and hung up the others. They worked in silence, Cinder putting all other things in the other cupboards and shelves.

"There." Cress hung up the last of her clothes - a red dress that she hadn't worn in quite a while - and sat down on her bed. "You're not as bad at organizing as I thought," she commented, and Cinder looked up, grinning, as she placed _another_ book in the shelf.

Cress was quite the reader - she had an entire room at home full of bookshelves.

Cinder placed the last book in its place. "Done." She lifted her wrist to check the time on her watch. "It's only about five-thirty. Do you want to head over to meet my friends right now, or do you want to do that after dinner?"

Cress shrugged. "Maybe after dinner, but you can go now if you want."

"No way! I'm not _that_ bad of a friend." Cinder winked, teasing. "Apparently, the lunchroom people _bring_ us dinner in our rooms tonight. The staff said that they're all setting up the cafeteria for this year." She rolled her eyes. "As if there's much to set up."

Cress smiled. _Maybe I have made a friend, after all._

"How many books do you have, anyway?" Cinder asked, eyeing the two shelves she'd just filled with books.

"A lot. Don't tell me you _never_ read!" Cress said, faking mock horror.

Cinder laughed. "I do, but nowhere as close as you. My _total_ number of books at home for pleasure reading is probably _half_ of this."

"Better get ready for some good long reading, then." Cress aimlessly wound her hair around her fingers and wrists. "Because we're going to start getting you interested in some _good_ books." She reached out and pulled down a book: _Legend._

Cinder stared at the book as if it was a foreign object, as Cress placed it into her hands. "Marie Lu's a great author. There's two more books after this; it's a trilogy." Cress grinned at Cinder's appalled expression. She formed her face into as innocent an expression as possible. "Best you get started."

* * *

 **Bam! Done with the first chapter of _Shatter My Reflection!_ More will soon be posted!**

 **Leave a review as you go, please!**

 **~ Breathe the Shadows**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, again, my friends! Thank you to _CkSwCtWj_ , _PennTheWriter, MastaGamerita,_ and _MusicalArtist185_ for reviewing the first chapter of this story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, too! **

* * *

_Winter hung up yet another_ beautiful shirt, practically cramming it into the closet, which was now almost completely filled with hangers and clothes. And she still had a good third of her clothes left. She sighed. She would probably have to make do with folding up many of them.

Her fingers brushed the smooth fabric of the next article of clothing - a white dress that would reach her knees. She had bought it very recently, and had never gotten the chance to wear it; so at the first opportunity, she would wear it.

Fighting down a yawn, Winter folded it neatly and placed it in the shelf - which was supposed to be for books, but she only had brought five or six books, anyway.

"How's _your_ unpacking getting along, Scarlet?" Winter called to her red-haired roommate, her voice musical as always.

A pause. Then a muffled thump. "It's all right, I guess," Scarlet called back. "Other than being completely boring and tiring, I think it's fine, thanks." Winter giggled. What a _Scarlet_ answer. Always that sassy yet sweet tone.

She'd known Scarlet for nearly three years, now - they had been roommates throughout tenth, eleventh, and now, twelfth grade.

Winter placed a dark green long-sleeved velvet dress on top of the stack of dresses that she couldn't fit by hanging. Her arms ached as she pulled out a pair of black jeans, folded it, and placed it on top of the 'pants' pile. She pushed dark curls from her eyes and reached for another.

And another.

And another.

Winter yawned, reaching her arms out in an _extremely_ satisfying stretch. _Nearly done,_ she told herself, even though she clearly wasn't. She folded a light blue dress, a black shirt, and a red dress. Still, the pile of clothes that remained after ten minutes of tedious folding had barely changed in size.

 _This is going to be a long day._

She gritted her teeth and placed another shirt at the top of its stack, not bothering to fix it even when she realized that her folding had grown quite sloppy over the last ten minutes or so of folding. Winter placed another pair of jeans in its respective pile.

"Damn."

Winter whipped around in surprise. She hadn't even heard Scarlet come up behind her and sit down on her bed. She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Stop sneaking up on me like that, Scar!"

Scarlet ignored her. "Do you _really_ wear _all_ of those clothes?" she asked, eyeing the closet which was rapidly filling up.

"Well..." _Usually. Most of the time, I guess._ "Yeah, I guess so." Winter shrugged as casually as she could, and Scarlet rolled her eyes, fiddling aimlessly with the bedspread. Winter went back to folding, feeling her stomach growl even though they had just eaten dinner. She was just bored of this.

"Here." Winter turned to see that Scarlet was no longer on the bed, but instead, right beside her, and was holding out a small stack of neatly-folded clothes.

"Stop _doing_ that!" she said, and Scarlet just grinned, reaching down to fold more of Winter's clothes. Winter huffed. "Remind me to take an _extra-long_ shower tomorrow, will you?" she teased, knowing that her long showers annoyed Scarlet.

"Don't you dare!"

Winter snorted at Scarlet's horrified face, and went back to folding her clothes, placing the ones Scarlet had just folded in their respective stacks, feeling her arms grow heavier with every movement they made in folding her clothes.

Her cell phone buzzed with an incoming text message, and soft tinkling music filled the air.

Winter picked it up, typing in her passcode with habitual ease and opening her text messages.

She was aware of Scarlet staring at her, arms crossed over her chest, waiting for Winter to tell her who it was. But she wouldn't look at Winter's phone without asking, first. She never did anything to make Winter feel uncomfortable - that was part of why Winter found her such a good friend.

The text message was from Cinder, so she quickly texted back.

 _Cinder_ _: R u and Scar free rite now?_ _we're all meeting in room 504 in abt 10 min._

 _Winter_ _: whos in that room_

 _Cinder_ _: Iko and Emilie_

 _Winter_ _: oh ok then. can i bring Kai? ;)_

 _Cinder_ _: not rite now. besides i think he'll be a little awkward being the only guy_

 _Winter_ _: ok_

 _Cinder_ _: theres someone i want yall to meet. tell Scar to come too_

 _Winter_ _: kk c ya_

After the last reply, Winter locked her phone and tossed it amid the heap of clothes. _Anything to get away from this stupid folding nonsense._ She slowly turned to look at Scarlet, who was staring at her, arms crossed. "Are you going to tell me who that was?"

"It was Cinder." Winter shrugged casually. "She wants us all to meet in Room 504 in ten minutes. She wanted me to tell you, too."

Scarlet grinned. "Awesome night-before-school, as usual. Good thing you get an excuse not to finish that." She waved her hand in the direction of Winter's remaining heap of clothes, and Winter grimaced. Scarlet tapped her finger against Winter's cheek. "Don't frown, dearie," she said, in a horrible, high-pitched voice, "it causes wrinkles."

Winter stared at her for a split second before she burst out laughing. She briefly heard Scarlet laughing beside her before she sprang onto the bed and hurled a flowery pillow at her face. Scarlet caught it and threw it back, hitting Winter in the stomach.

"I'd better get dressed," Winter stated cheerily.

Scarlet frowned. "What's wrong with what you have on now?"

"There's dust all over it, now, because I've been sitting here and unpacking for so long."

"Unpacking _clothes,_ " Scarlet teased, and Winter leaned back in mock dismay before picking out a mint-colored dress that she had never worn before and marching off to the bathroom to change. _It's going to be an awesome night._

* * *

A good eight minutes later, Winter emerged from the bathroom, dressed and ready to go. She found Scarlet sitting in the same spot on her bed, staring at her as she walked out. The pale mint-colored dress felt good against her knees, and though it clung to her skin, she didn't mind the soft feeling of the cloth against her dark skin.

Scarlet studied her for a moment. "That looks good on you," she said. Winter smiled, letting a soft blush rise to her cheeks. Scarlet put her hands on her hips. "That still doesn't excuse the fact that you took about the same time as I would to take a shower!"

Winter shrugged casually. "You ready to go?"

"I've been ready for the past ten minutes," Scarlet retorted, but she was grinning as she pushed red hair from her face and clambered off of Winter's bed. She jogged a little to catch up to Winter, then stopped, grabbing Winter's wrist. "You forgot your phone."

Winter rolled her eyes and jogged back to get it. _Whatever._ "And I suppose that you, being the perfectionist you are, remembered yours?"

"Of course." Scarlet beamed with false innocence. A beat passed, and she rolled her eyes. "Really? Me, a _perfectionist?_ Are you _crazy?_ "

"Whatever." Winter pushed past Scarlet and threw open the door. _I'm not wearing shoes,_ she told herself silently, walking out the door - barefoot. Scarlet's hand clasped her shoulder and dragged her back, and Winter threw her a look. "What?"

"How about _shoes_?"

"Nah. Doesn't matter." Winter threw her a winning smile. _No one cares._

Scarlet shrugged. "All right. I guess not." She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the key to their room - 509 - and locked the door behind them. Winter watched as she pushed her red hair over her shoulder, and followed her roommate down the hall.

 _Oh, right._ Winter reached out and grabbed Scarlet's wrist.

Scarlet whipped around. " _What_?"

"I forgot to tell you something!" Winter whispered, trying to signal frantically to do the same. Technically, they weren't allowed to visit other dorm rooms until school started, so they couldn't let one of the teachers catch them. "Cinder said that she wants us to meet someone."

"Who?"

Winter threw up her hands. _Seriously?_ "If I knew, I would tell you!"

"Oh. I guess we'll find out, then." Scarlet slowed her pace a little to let Winter walk beside her. After a few steps, Winter stopped next to Scarlet and watched Scarlet walk up to the door of Room 504. Her red-haired friend turned back for a moment. "Who's room did you say this was, again?"

"Iko and Èmilie."

"Oh." Scarlet lifted a hand and knocked on the door, thrice. Winter heard voices talking inside - the more excited, bubbly voice probably Iko's - and heard the sound of footsteps coming up to the door from the inside just before someone threw the door open.

It was Èmilie, who looked quite adorable as usual with her blonde curls settling on her shoulder, and her small, roundish face beaming. Scarlet wrapped Èmilie into a tight hug before going inside. Before she knew it, she found herself being wrapped in Èmilie's embrace, too.

Èmilie pulled her inside, and Winter waved cheerfully to Iko, who grinned and waved back.

"Hi, guys!" Scarlet said, grinning. "I missed you both this summer! And Cinder, too."

"Where _is_ Cinder, anyway?" Winter asked, making a great show of looking around the room and not finding her brown-haired friend. "Didn't she say in her text message that she had someone whom she wanted us to meet?"

"She's not here yet," Èmilie said.

At the same time, Iko said, "I can't wait to meet whoever it is."

Scarlet rolled her eyes and moaned, "Wasn't it _Cinder_ who wanted us to meet with a ten-minute notice? And now, she's not here yet, either." Winter giggled. _That's very true,_ she thought, and she laughed along with Èmilie and Iko.

"Sit down, guys," Iko called to them. "I feel awkward being the only one sitting."

Winter sat down on the large rug, studying the setup of this room. It wasn't _too_ different from the one she shared with Scarlet - except for the fact that this room had more open space and smaller 'sides' for each of them.

Èmilie grinned. "What do you guys want to do tonight?"

"I wanted to bring Kai," Winter said, naming her most recent boyfriend, "but Cinder didn't let me."

"And rightly so!" Scarlet stated, crossing her arms. "Seriously, Winter? This is _our_ night. The girls' night. We've gotta enjoy it, because it's our last night before school starts." Winter sighed, rolling her eyes.

 _Where is Kai, anyway? What is he doing, now?_

Out of them all, Winter was the only girl with a boyfriend - probably because of the fact that, basically, she was one of the prettiest girls in the school - if not _the_ prettiest. But she hoped to get them all a love life of their own before senior year ended.

There was a knock on the door, and Winter jumped to her feet. "It's probably Cinder."

Winter grasped the doorknob and turned, opening the door to reveal Cinder - lovable, sweet Cinder, who walked in, the same rambling gait Winter had always known her to have because of her prosthetic leg. She grinned as she entered, then turned her head.

"Come on, Cress!" she called.

 _Cress? Who's Cress?_ Winter's dark brown eyes brightened with anticipation and curiosity as she waited. _She must be the person Cinder wanted us to meet. I hope she's friendly._ Winter was sure that everyone was watching the doorway, waiting.

As they watched, a girl walked in, her blonde hair in a high braid, with big sky-blue eyes, a sweet heart-shaped face and a few freckles over her pale cheeks. She was quite _adorable,_ Winter realized, staring into the girl's enormous blue eyes.

Her mouth fell open.

Good stars, her _hair._

The girl was watching her face nervously, studying her reaction, but Winter was too shocked to hide her disbelief before it was visible on her face. "Good stars," Winter said, being the first to break the shocked silence among them. "Is that all _real hair?_ "

She widened her already-huge eyes and took a step back. Cinder stepped beside her. " _Yes,_ Winter, that's all _real hair._ Now, would you not bother her with questions as the first thing and introduce yourself? Everyone, this is Cress."

Scarlet chuckled, a boyish, _Scarlet_ chuckle. "Damn."

The girl - Cress, apparently - had hair to be proud of. Even though it was braided, it fell past her feet and was coiled multiple times on the ground. She was small, about five feet, but that was still _really long hair._ It was actually quite beautiful, in its own way.

"Hi, Cress! I'm Iko!" Iko was the first to say something meaningful, and Cress let out a squeak of alarm as Iko barreled into her and crushed her in a hug.

 _She's probably nervous._

"Iko." Cinder's voice held a warning, and Iko took a step back. "She's not used to... having friends." Cress managed a weak smile as she looked at each of them in turn. "She's my roommate, this year, and... she doesn't have many friends. So she's part of her group, now. Okay?"

Winter nodded, standing up. "Hi, I'm Winter. It's nice to meet you, Cress." She hoped her tone was as soft and soothing as possible.

"I'm Scarlet."

"Èmilie."

Cress's gaze lingered on Winter's face a little longer than the others, before going back to the floor. She looked up briefly. "Hi, everyone." Her voice was soft and meek - it fit her appearance perfectly, Winter decided. "Thanks for letting me come."

"What do you mean, 'letting you come'?" Scarlet demanded. "You're one of us now, so you don't have a choice whether or not you want to come!"

Cress stared at her with wide eyes. Winter shook her head. "She's joking. What she means is, you're our friend now, so you're included in everything." She smiled. "I love your hair. It makes you look really beautiful." Winter meant it.

"Thanks." Cress sounded as if she was finally trying to calm down. "I haven't cut it in years."

"You _have_ to let me do your hair!" Iko squealed, ignoring the warning look Cinder gave her. Cress looked slightly flustered, but Cinder whispered something into her ear, and she nodded.

Cress smiled, more genuine, this time. "Sure, Iko. Do you want to do it right now?"

Iko's eyes widened, as if she was hearing the stars speak. "Really?"

"Sure." Cress nodded. She cleared her throat. "But first... I... uh... I want to... uh... I want to thank you guys for... well... being my friends. I didn't have any friends last year... and... uh... I just wandered around alone. So thanks. Really."

Cress tugged at the end of her braid and slowly ran her hands through it, untangling the long blonde strands and pulling the braid apart. She shook her head, getting the last remains of the braid out, and Iko gaped. "It's so _long!"_

Winter had to look, now, and she saw the Iko was right. Cress's hair formed its own little coils and tangles when it passed her feet - it would be about four or five feet of hair that pooled on the ground after it passed her feet. She grinned as she realized that Cress's hair was taller than Cress herself.

Winter smiled, realizing that no one had given Cress an actual reply. "You don't have to thank us," she said. "It's our pleasure to let you join our little circle."

* * *

"Yeah, why not?"

"Sounds great?"

"I'm in!"

Winter leaned closer to Cress to murmur to her. "Cress... are you sure you want to play? I mean... you don't have to if you don't feel comfortable, considering you just met us an hour ago. None of us will judge you if you don't play."

"I'll play," Cress said, her voice slightly stronger than it had been before. "I've never played before."

" _Never_ played Truth or Dare?" Iko faltered in her braiding as Cress shook her head. "Oh. Okay." She stopped her braiding to lean down and murmur a few hushed sentences to her, probably telling her how to play the game.

Cress nodded. "Got it. Thanks... er... what was your name again?" She ducked her head awkwardly, and Winter caught a glimpse of her reddening face.

"Iko."

"Thanks, Iko." The words were awkward, again, and Winter suppressed a sigh. _It's not her fault. I plan to introduce love to her, too, before the end of the year, if she can't find it herself. Which... she probably won't. But she's sweet and nice; she has a good chance._

"Iko, truth or dare?" The voice was Cinder's.

"Dare!" came Iko's singsong voice.

Scarlet chuckled. "Figures. Most of the time, it ends up being 'Dare or Dare' in here."

"Okay. I dare you to... uh..." Winter watched as Cinder struggled to come up with something. She turned to Èmilie, who was right beside her, whispering - probably asking her for help coming up with something. "I dare you to run all around this fifth floor yelling 'chickengobber'."

Iko frowned. "Damn it!" She rolled her eyes as Cinder looked up at her expectantly. "Okay, but let me finish Cress's hair first. It might take a while, considering that it's so amazingly _long!_ Someone else, go first. Truth or dare... uh... Winter?"

Winter blinked, surprised. "Dare!" As Scarlet said, it was always everyone's answer.

"I dare you to prank call Kai!" Iko exclaimed, giggling, and everyone else burst into laughter while Winter pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. But soon enough, she found that she was laughing, too. Only Cress looked confused.

"I've heard of Kai," she said, "but why _him_?" She immediately lowered her eyes, as if she said something wrong.

"Kai is Winter's boyfriend!" Iko practically squealed. "Come on, do it!"

Winter sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice," she conceded. She could imagine Kai's handsome face strained with confusion, which always made him look cute, in her opinion. "What should I do? Like, what should I say to him?"

"I got it!" Scarlet was still laughing. "Order three hundred rolls of toilet paper from him! Like pretend that you don't know it's him, like you dialed the wrong number."

Winter burst into laughter, while Iko squealed, "That's perfect!"

"Okay, but there's a problem. He has my number, so he'll know it's me." Winter shrugged. "I think he has all your numbers."

"He doesn't have mine," Cress said, quietly. "You can use my phone."

Winter smiled. "Thanks, Cress!" Cress handed Winter her phone, which had a sky-blue cover with beautiful streams and streaks of light all over it. "Okay, here goes nothing." Everyone in the room went quiet, watching her intently as she dialed Kai's number - which she had memorized.

 _"Hello, who's this?"_

"Ah, this be Walmart?" Winter asked, mimicking an old, artificially-feminine accent. Without waiting for Kai's reply, she continued. "I want to host party and I make order now, okay?" She swallowed down a laugh. "I give order of three hundred roll of toilet paperses, please," she said, deliberately mispronouncing 'papers' and dragging out the 'please' as if it were a foreign word.

Cress's phone was on full volume, so they all leaned in, waiting.

The tone of Kai's voice when he replied spoke volumes, and Winter could imagine the look on his face. _"What?"_

Èmilie giggled, but Scarlet clapped a hand over her mouth, hushing her so as to not give anything away. Winter had to fight down a laugh, herself. She faked a gasp. "Oh, _so_ sorry," she cooed, maintaining the accent, "wrong number."

And Winter hit 'End'.

All six of them, including Cress, went into gales of laughter. Winter struggled to breathe as she bent over, still laughing, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Even Cress - shy, nervous Cress - was laughing, like she couldn't help it.

"Nice one, dude." Scarlet high-fived Winter, and surprisingly, Cress patted her gently on the back. Surprised, Winter turned to look at her, and she withdrew sharply, her eyes going wide. Winter broke into a smile, and she relaxed.

Cinder grinned. "Looks like Cress's finally warming up."

Winter turned to Cress, suppressing a giggle as she saw the red flaming up in her cheeks. But Cress grinned slightly. "I guess so. Thanks, everyone."

"Stars, stop thanking us!" Scarlet exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "You're welcome!" Cress seemed to have already understood that Scarlet's general demeanor was sassy yet somehow sweet at the same time, and she grinned at her.

Cinder turned to Iko. "Your turn?"

Iko nodded. "Yeah, just one sec-" She did some fancy, intricate twists to Cress's braid towards the bottom, which Winter didn't quite follow "-there." She tied the band around the end of Cress's braid, and Winter saw that it still coiled around the ground.

"It's beautiful, Iko," Èmilie said, smiling, and Cress pulled it over to look at it for herself.

Cress smiled. "Thanks, Iko."

"Speaking of _beautiful,_ " Iko announced, rather arbitrarily, "take a look at Winter's dress! It's so _you!_ I love it!" She clapped her hands together once, and Winter felt a blush rising to her cheeks as everyone turned to look at her.

"Thanks, Iko," Winter murmured, trying to break the silence. She coughed. "So, are you going? Cinder dared you to run around the hall yelling - what was it?"

"Chickengobber," Cinder supplied.

"Yeah, that, and make sure that at least three or four people poke their heads out of their rooms." Winter grinned teasingly, and Iko frowned. Cinder smirked, as Iko grudgingly pulled open the door and marched outside into the empty hallway.

"I'm not _yelling_ ," Iko called. "I don't want the teachers to come. But I'll talk loudly enough for people to hear."

Cress stood up, and Winter looked at her questioningly. She smiled back, eagerness showing on her face as she picked up her phone from where Winter had last placed it after her dare, and followed Iko outside. "I am _definitely_ videotaping this."

* * *

 **Yes! Cress is finally getting into the group! I hope you all liked that chapter! (Side note: I took Winter's dare from a real dare that I had to do once, except I was ordering from Chucky Cheese :D)**

 **Review!**

 **~ Breathe the Shadows**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, again! I hope you all liked the last chapter. Thank you to _Stormy Huntress, MastaGamerita,_ and _PennTheWriter_ for reviewing the second chapter of this story. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _Scarlet pulled the covers even more_ tightly around herself, despite the fact that it wasn't really cold. Neither she nor Winter was sleeping; Winter was texting - probably Kai. Their room was dark except from the light from their phones.

A lock of red hair found its way onto her phone screen, so she pushed it off. The screen also scrolled down in the same motion, and Scarlet cursed in annoyance. She was on the school website, checking to see if there were any sports tryouts tomorrow - on the first day of school - other than volleyball.

Usually, they didn't have more than one tryout on the same day, but she was checking anyway. _I don't want to take that chance._

Scarlet was known as the "Queen of Sports"; a nickname that definitely fit her. She participated in almost every sport that the school offered, though they took up most of her time after school - and came out as the MVP in most of them. As long as they didn't clash, she didn't mind that she had practice almost every day of the week.

Yes, she had volleyball tryouts tomorrow, and track-and-field - though it was only in the evening. _Good._

A steady buzz filled the room - the sound of Scarlet's vibrating phone. A text from Cinder. Turning up her volume, Scarlet opened the text and replied quickly, ignoring the fact that the bright light from the phone in the midst of the dark room was hurting her eyes.

 _Cinder : hey Scar_

 _Scarlet_ _: hi_

 _Cinder_ _: im giving u cress's phone number so that u can text her_

Scarlet drew in a breath at Cinder's text, reading it again. And again. Not that she didn't like Cress, but who on earth was she? _Like, all of a sudden, some girl with_ insane _hair comes to join our group and acts like she's known us for years. Well... not really..._ Scarlet couldn't help but flinch as she recalled how nervous Cress had been. _But it happened so quickly..._

 _Scarlet_ _: Ok_

 _Cinder_ _: 665 303 9991_

 _Scarlet_ _: k thanks_

 _Cinder_ _: c u tom_

 _Scarlet_ _: ya bye_

Pulling the blankets around her, even more tightly than before, Scarlet sighed. Hopefully, Cress would turn out to be a good friend. And... well... Winter seemed to trust her earlier that night... and she would trust Winter with her life.

Scarlet let out a long yawn. She heard Winter moving from across the room, and heard her beautiful friend's voice moments later. "Scar?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you coming back here right after school ends tomorrow?"

Scarlet rolled her eyes. Winter _knew_ that sports were... well... her life. So did everyone. "Take a wild guess." Silence. Winter didn't reply, but Scarlet thought she could hear Winter's musical giggle - but it was too faint to be sure. Scarlet snorted. "Stars, hasn't it occurred to you that I have _tryouts_ tomorrow?"

"Oh." Winter seemed almost nonchalant.

"Did you get Cinder's text?" she asked suddenly.

From the light of Winter's phone screen against her face, Scarlet saw Winter quirk an eyebrow. "Yeah. So?" Scarlet didn't reply. Winter - the girl who was kind to _every single person -_ would not understand how she felt. Winter must have understood what her silence meant, because she added, "Cress is sweet. I don't know why she doesn't have friends."

"But... don't you think it was just... too _fast?_ " Scarlet knew that her voice must have sounded whiny, but she didn't care.

Winter sighed. "Just give her a chance. She _doesn't have friends,_ okay? She's nice... and friendly... I don't know why no one approached her before. And if we don't befriend her, then who will?"

"Not to mention her _insane hair,_ " Scarlet muttered quietly, but in the silence, Winter heard it.

Winter's teeth seemed to glow from the light of her phone's screen as she smiled. "There you go. She's sweet, if you made an effort to know her." She paused to draw in a breath. "You know what? Why don't you text her, now that Cinder gave you her number? It'll help you get to know her."

Scarlet snorted. "She probably won't even reply."

"She will!" Winter rustled her blankets. "Come on, Scar." Scarlet sighed and opened her text messages. Looking over Cinder's text again, she briefly memorized Cress's number: _665-303-9991._ She brushed a red curl from her eyes and said it again in her head. _665-303-9991._

Scarlet heard a soft thump and looked up, a little startled, only to see that Winter had gotten off her bed and was coming toward her. Scarlet rolled her eyes. "You don't have to _monitor_ me, Winter. Seriously." Winter didn't reply; she sat down on Scarlet's bed and lay down.

Sure, there was enough space - each girl had a queen bed - but Scarlet didn't have the tendency to stay in one place without rolling around or kicking in her sleep. Of course, she wasn't going to tell _Winter_ that.

 _665-303-9991,_ Scarlet entered, and began her text. Not to formal, but not informal, either.

 _Scarlet_ _: Hi, Cress! Cinder gave me your phone number a few minutes ago. I'm glad that we can get to know each other throughout this year_

Scarlet was cringing a little as she typed down the last sentence, but maybe Winter was right. And she had three classes with Cress, so she would 'get to know her' even better. Yawning again, Scarlet lay back, satisfaction sparking as her head hit the pillow with a pleasing bounce. She turned her head in Winter's direction. "Are you gonna stay here all night?"

"I hope you don't mind." _So that's a yes, then._

Scarlet shrugged, before remembering that Winter couldn't see her in the darkness. "No, it's fine. We did this for most of last year, too."

The room was silent until a soft ring filled the air. Scarlet grabbed blindly at her phone, feeling her hands close around the cold metal as she typed in her passcode, and pulled up her text messages again. She swallowed. Cress had replied.

 _Cress_ _: Hi Scarlet! Sorry if I seemed too awkward or quiet earlier today_

Scarlet raised her eyebrows. She stifled a snort of disbelief. Something didn't seem convincing, but maybe that was just her. Unfortunately, she would be spending quite a while in Cress's company for the rest of the year, as everyone else seemed to like her.

Just great.

Her reply would be just as flat, she told herself.

 _Scarlet_ _: doesn't matter. good night_

Scarlet heard a stifled gasp and whirled around to find herself looking into Winter's dark eyes. Her friend had her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked disbelieving. Winter opened her mouth to speak. "Are you _kidding_? You can't be more subtle than that?"

"What do you mean?" Scarlet was _never_ at a loss for words, like this.

Winter rolled her eyes. "I _know_ you don't like her. But seriously? Now _she'll_ know, too!"

"And I care because?" Though it felt strange to see Winter _angry_ and _disbelieving,_ Scarlet realized that Winter was right when she put it bluntly. She _didn't_ _like Cress._ She just came in the way of their group. They'd been an _awesome_ group of friends, and now, there was someone who practically _barged in._

"Don't you _care?"_

"No." Scarlet mirrored Winter's expression.

Winter sighed. "Way to make her feel welcome, cutting her off like that."

"If she wanted to feel _welcome,_ she should have gone to you or Iko, not me." At Scarlet's reply, Winter threw her hands up and lay back down, giving up. Scarlet clenched her fists, but she lay down as well pressing herself into the pillow.

She made sure to _power off_ her phone, that night.

* * *

There was blonde hair _everywhere._

Well not _everywhere,_ but... Scarlet could tell what that meant.

Cress.

She felt Cress's big blue stare fix on her, and she turned away, pretending that she didn't see her. When Cress started to approach her, Scarlet flipped her red hair over her shoulder and stalked away around the back of the classroom without a word.

Scarlet risked a glance back when she neared the front, again, and saw that Cress had taken a seat at the back corner of the classroom. _Then I'm sitting right here._ She chose a seat that was exactly opposite from Cress, in the front corner.

This was Theater, her last class - every student was required to take at least one year of Theater in high school, and Scarlet had procrastinated. _Well, I can't help it if I'm just not interested._

The teacher was a young woman whom Scarlet had seen in the hallways before. She was quite beautiful, with olive skin, caramel-colored eyes, and curly, dark hair that reminded Scarlet of Winter. When she spoke, her voice was soft and composed.

"Hello, everyone," she said, a soft smile on her lips. "I'm Miss Hayle, but if you must know, I'm _Solstice_ Hayle." She clasped her hands together. "Welcome to Theater. We're going to start with short skits - you have the entire class to prepare with your partner before you present it tomorrow. Your homework is to memorize."

Scarlet stifled a groan.

A hand went up. A boy named Carswell Thorne - the school prankster.

Ms. Hayle cleared her throat. " _No,_ Carswell - you do not get to pick your partner." Everyone knew that he went by Thorne, but no one felt the need to point that out. The boy's hand dropped. "The name of your partner will be written beside your script. I swapped the names in the script with _your_ names so that it would feel more real. I'm going to be calling out names, so come and get your paper. And I'll take roll at the same time." She flashed everyone a bright smile. "Any other questions?"

No one raised a hand. Scarlet yawned, bored, as Ms. Hayle passed out the scripts, calling out names.

She only looked up when her name was called. "Scarlet!"

Pushing red curls from her eyes, Scarlet made her way to the front, crossing her fingers and praying that she would get someone decent to work with. _Not Cress, not Cress, please..._ She received her paper and quickly thanked the teacher before returning to her seat.

She only dared to glance at the paper after she sat down.

 _Ze'ev Kesley,_ the name read.

Scarlet let out a breath she didn't recall holding, and looked around the classroom for Ze'ev. She'd never really met him before, but she'd heard that he was the son of a teacher - Mrs. Maha Kesley. It was better than getting Cress as a partner, anyway.

Scarlet couldn't help but look up as Ms. Hayle called out, "Crescent!" She recalled that Cress had mentioned her name was short for Crescent, last night.

"Are you Scarlet?" A tap on her shoulder from behind jerked Scarlet out of her thoughts. She whirled around, startled, and found herself staring into quite stunning green eyes and a rather handsome - though serious - face.

Scarlet nodded. "Like the hair, very clever."

The boy didn't laugh. "The sheet says we're partners."

"I see."

"You can sit here." The boy - Ze'ev - gestured to the desk beside his.

Scarlet placed her paper on the desk and sat down. "Thanks, Ze'ev."

"Wolf."

"What?"

The boy looked a little embarrassed. "You can call me Wolf."

"Okay." Scarlet was a little unsure of what to say. "Let's read through the script, first." She felt rather awkward as he didn't say anything. "Just read your lines." She gestured briefly to the paper. "You go first." She stared at Ze'ev - or rather, Wolf - and waited for him to speak.

 _"I just wanted to make sure you were all right,"_ Wolf read, and his voice sounded almost genuinely concerned.

Scarlet decided to play along and put emotion in. _"I'm better off than Roland. His neck was starting to bruise when I left."_ She paused. "Wow. That got violent fast." She managed a small smile, but Wolf didn't smile back, and just looked back at his paper.

 _"He deserved worse."_

 _"I wish you hadn't gotten involved at all. I had the situation under control."_ Scarlet raised her eyebrows. So one person had supposedly injured another person who was arguing with her? She loosed a sigh. It didn't matter, anyway.

 _"Clearly. But I was worried you might draw that gun on him, and such a scene may not have helped your case. As far as not being crazy, that is."_ Wolf glanced up at her, and Scarlet was surprised when he spoke to her directly. "I guess both of them have some violence problems," he said, with a half-smile, and Scarlet smiled back.

 _"How did you know?"_

 _"I saw the handle when you climbed up onto the counter."_

Scarlet paused, and so did Wolf. There was supposed to be a long pause, after all. After a few moments, Scarlet nodded to Wolf, signaling that he could continue speaking.

 _"Do you have any more tomatoes? I'm still a little hungry. I can pay."_

 _"No, that's all right. We have plenty."_ Scarlet reached back at air, as though there was something behind her, and pretended to pull something out. _"Here, these are good raw, too."_

Wolf pretended to catch whatever she had tossed. " _What are they?"_

Scarlet laughed, but it was a little fake. Wolf glanced up sharply at her, and she flinched, a little. _"They're carrots. Are you serious?"_ She smiled. "Looks like this person's pretty clueless."

 _"Thank you."_

 _"Your mom never made you eat vegetables, did she?"_ Scarlet paused. _"Never mind. They're good, you'll like them."_

 _"I was wondering if you could use a farmhand?"_

 _"You're looking for work?"_

 _"The money's good at the fights, but it doesn't make much of a career. I thought maybe you could pay me in food."_

 _"After seeing the evidence of your appetite in there, I think I'd lose my shirt with a deal like that."_ Though it was all an act, Scarlet still felt her cheeks flush, and she felt too warm, all of a sudden. _"What's your name, anyway?"_

 _"They call me Wolf at the fights."_

 _"Wolf? How... predatory. You might want to leave the street fighter part off your resume. Well, they call me Scarlet."_ Scarlet let a few seconds pass before she continued. _"I'm really sorry, but we have a full staff already. I don't need anymore farmhands."_

 _"I understand. Thank you for the food."_

 _"You should head to Toulouse, or even Paris. There are more jobs in the cities, and people around here don't take too kindly to strangers, as you may have noticed."_

 _"Thanks for the tip."_ Wolf paused. _"If you change your mind about needing a hand, I can be found at the abandoned Morel house most nights. I may not be great with people, but I think I'd do well on a farm. Animals love me."_

Scarlet waited as Wolf stood up and walked away, a few paces, so as to give the idea of leaving.

 _"Oh, I'm sure they do. After all, what farm animals don't love a wolf?"_ Scarlet burst out laughing after she read the last line. "That's something that I actually might say." She looked over the script. "I don't look forward to memorizing, tonight."

"Me neither."

"Do you want to run it through again, but with acting?"

* * *

"Ace!" Scarlet yelled, high-fiving her temporary teammate Audrey and side-stepping the volleyball as it rolled back under the net.

She watched as Audrey raised her arm and served again. This time, the other team _did_ return it, barely, using all three hits. This was _easy._ Scarlet had played better - but nothing brilliant. After all, she was the Queen of Sports.

"Mine!" Scarlet yelled, and spiked the ball easily and gracefully. She smirked as the other team failed to return it.

Audrey served again.

Her serve made it over easily, and a rather tall girl - Anna - returned it. Scarlet let the ball pass over her head so that the person behind her - Amy - could set her up. She did, quite easily, with a single bump, and Scarlet spiked the volleyball again.

It was what she did best.

"One more round, girls, and that'll be all," Coach Darla called. "Make it count."

Scarlet grinned as Audrey served once more, and the ball hit another girl - Nainsi - squarely in the face. She decided to give the fallen girl some space, while her teammates crowded around her. Coach Darla brushed through and murmured a few words to the girl before walking away.

"Come on, guys! Go get changed. You'll get your results tomorrow. Everyone, meet up right after school right here, and I'll tell you who made it to the team." Scarlet watched as the other girls ran ahead, and stopped to talk to Coach Darla.

"You're also coaching track like last year, right?" Scarlet asked, slowing to a walk.

Coach Darla nodded. "Do you have any questions about that?"

"No. Just... the tryouts are in about ten minutes... so where will we be? I don't want to change; I'd rather go over right now and wait."

"Meet in that corner of the field," Coach Darla said, pointing to the closest corned, and turned back to Scarlet. "You don't have to change. Yeah, you can just go and wait over there." She lowered her voice. "I'm telling you this before the other girls because I'm sure of my decision: you're on the volleyball team."

 _Again_ was what she didn't say.

Scarlet had been on the varsity team starting from her freshman year - for all sports that had more than one team. She'd say that basketball was her best sport - but the others weren't that far behind. She broke into a grin. "Thanks, Coach."

"No problem, Scarlet."

With that, Coach Darla jogged ahead to catch up with the other volleyball girls, while Scarlet ran, legs pumping, red hair flying into her face, to the corner of the field where she would wait for ten minutes before the next tryout began.

* * *

 **Third chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed! Yes, I obviously took Scarlet and Wolf's script from the book _Scarlet._ All credit there goes to Marissa Meyer. **

**Wow, Scarlet doesn't like Cress. No one saw that coming. (Well, if you did, don't say anything :D)**

 _ **Question of the Day -**_ **Who said this quote, to whom, in what book?: _"I've been to hell. I spent some time there when I was twelve, remember? And when I march into the Flatlands with Lord Berick's troops, I'll see to it that High King Loch sees a bit of hell, too. But first..."_**

 **Leave a review as you go, please!**

 **~ Breathe the Shadows**


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope you all liked the previous chapter. Thank you to _MastaGamerita, PennTheWriter,_ and _MusicalArtist185_ for reviewing the third chapter! **

**But no one answered the question at the end of the previous chapter! Here's the answer: The quote is from _The Assassin's Blade_ (it's an awesome book, you should read it - but start with the first book _Throne of Glass)_. Ansel is talking to Celaena.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _Cinder was rather proud to say_ that PE hadn't gone that badly so far - only because they hadn't done much other than talk about PE and do very basic drills. It was only the second day, however, and things could only get worse, couldn't they? But Coach Darla seemed nice, anyway.

Fortunately, this time was her 'off' period, which meant she could return to her dorm room for an hour before going to third period - AP American History.

Cinder was slouching heavily under the weight of her backpack as she walked down the hall toward the entrance of the school building. She was staring at the ground, however, and didn't notice until a bucket of cold water emptied itself on her hair.

Stars, the water was _cold._

Cinder threw her backpack to the ground, ignoring the loud crash it made upon hitting the ground, and whipped around, pushing dripping-wet hair from her face.

A familiar, blonde boy was sauntering off, and turned to sneak a peek at her, wincing at the fury radiating off of her. _"Thorne!"_ Cinder yelled, ignoring the fact that there were classes in session.

The boy - Thorne - pulled one hand cheerfully out of his pocket and saluted her with mock courtesy. He grinned. "You okay? You look like you just had a bucket of ice-cold water poured over your head."

Cinder crossed her arms. "I _wonder_ why it seems that way," she said, with a pointed glare at Thorne. The blonde boy was a close friend - but thankfully not _too_ close - and despite Thorne's being the school prankster, she managed to put up with him, somehow. "Oh, and to answer your _oh-so-considerate_ question, I'd say that apart from being cold and wet and fairly _miserable,_ I'm quite fine, thanks."

Thorne shrugged, then widened his eyes at something behind her and ducked behind the nearest trashcan.

Cinder whirled around, half-prepared to fight something - with her _metal_ fist - and relaxed when she saw that it was Jacin, an older boy who was in some of the same classes as her. Jacin looked her over. "Did Thorne come through here? I've got something to settle with him."

"Take a wild guess," Cinder retorted, nodding, but she wouldn't rat Thorne out. "He went that way," she said, pointing down an empty hallway to her right.

Jacin nodded his thanks and sprinted down the hallway, and Cinder figured he was lucky there were no teachers out to stop him from running.

Thorne stepped out. "Thanks."

Cinder put her hands on her hips. "What did you do this time?"

"Um." Thorne looked uncomfortable, but he broke into a grin. "Replaced his bottle of Gatorade with diluted rat blood - mixed with a bit of Kool-Aid to keep the red color."

 _Rat blood?_ Cinder stared incredulously. "Are you kidding? _Rat_ blood?"

Thorne shrugged. "I found a dead rat in the refrigerator after science class, so I took it when the teacher left."

"Stars." Cinder shook her head disbelievingly.

"You might as well admit that I'm creative," Thorne retorted, placing his hand on his chest with mock hurt. Cinder just glared at him - it was impossible to stay mad at Thorne for long, anyway - as he waved. "See ya later!"

Cinder sighed, gritting her teeth and picking up her backpack, where only some parts of it had gotten wet. Throwing open the school building door, Cinder walked over to the buildings where all the dorms were - still hunched over a little under the weight of her backpack.

* * *

Cinder stepped out of the bathroom - she'd taken a shower because _who knew what was in the bucket that Thorne had poured on her -_ and threw herself onto her bed. She looked across at Cress's side of the room, thoughtfully.

 _What was she hiding?_ Cinder asked herself, and she couldn't come up with anything. _She probably didn't trust me yet, but it looked like it was really bothering her._ She couldn't get the alarmed flash in Cress's blue eyes when she had opened a certain pouch of her suitcase out of her mind.

Cinder slowly crossed over, her feet carrying her to Cress's suitcase almost without her realizing it. Her metal fingers fumbled a little with the silver zipper as she easily recalled which pouch it had been - the third from the front.

Looking around cautiously, for any sign of movement, Cinder opened the pouch and looked inside.

The pouch was empty except for a few scraps of paper. _So? What's so important about a pouch full of useless strips of paper?_

Her fingers reached inside and pulled out a handful of paper, and she dropped them on Cress's bed before her metal fingers crushed them. She was a little surprised to find that there was writing, large, red, and messy, on each of the strips of paper.

Cinder's dark amber eyes widened in shock. A few others were written in a darker shade of red, so Cinder figured that they all probably weren't written on the same day.

 _What's wrong with you? All you're good for is dragging around a bunch of dead hair and tripping people with it._

 _You don't deserve to be here._

 _Why do you torture everyone with your presence?_

 _I'm watching you. I want you dead._

Cinder dropped the papers back onto the bed in shock, watching them spiral slowly before settling on the sheet. Cress was being _bullied?_ By some anonymous idiots who probably didn't have the courage to approach her and tell her to her face, anyway.

Her brown hair fell into her face as Cinder buried her face into her hands and leaned over.

She had completely, entirely, _absolutely_ misunderstood Cress. No, Cress wasn't just a completely friendless girl who happened to be sweet and kind. No, she was also being _bullied,_ and was too afraid to tell anyone. Why did they have to target _Cress,_ nervous, shy _Cress_ of all people?

 _No, I won't tell anyone,_ Cinder told herself. _I'll keep your secret, Cress._

The ringtone of her cell phone - signaling a text message - jerked Cinder out of her thoughts.

Slowly sitting up and clambering off Cress's bed, Cinder collected all of the messages on the bed and in her suitcaase and crossed back over to her side of the room. She dropped them half-heartedly inside an empty cardboard box, and sat down on her bed.

The text was from Scarlet, so she replied quickly.

 _Scarlet : heyyyy_

 _Cinder_ _: arent u supposed to b in class_

 _Scarlet_ _: arent u?_

 _Cinder_ _: im in off period_

 _Scarlet_ _: oh_

 _Cinder_ _: well?_

 _Scarlet_ _: yah i guess but i dont care_

 _Cinder_ _: lol what class_

 _Scarlet_ _: physics_

 _Scarlet_ _: teachers coming ttyl_

Cinder didn't bother sending a reply to the last text, but she just threw her phone onto the bed. Cress was being _bullied -_ and there was practically nothing she could do about it. Unless she figured out who the notes were from... but where could she start?

She would confront Cress in the evening.

Cinder let out a yawn, then dropped her outstretched arms as she heard the loudspeaker come on, broadcasting to all the classrooms and dorms. She looked up as she heard Principal Dmitri Erland - just Principal Erland to her - began to speak.

She stifled a laugh as she heard a few thumps - presumably Principal Erland tapping at the loudspeaker on his side, unsure if it was working. _"Is this thing on?"_ Of course, he didn't expect a reply, so he continued anyway. _"I'd like to take this time to make a quick announcement."_ A pause. _"I do hate to cut into your classtime, but oh, well - what must be done must be done. Anyway, we will be incorporating school group chats as a part of the Student User accounts. I'm doing my best to make groups with both boys and girls - groups of twelve - and I have taken into consideration what I've heard about friend groups. So once you log into your Student User account, you will see a small 'x' at the top - if you click on it, you'll find the chat. Thank you, and have a very nice day."_

And the loudspeaker clicked off.

 _School group chats, huh?_ Cinder was mildly interested. She hoped she would be put in a good group, with Scarlet, Winter, and the others... and Cress.

Having nothing better to do, Cinder opened up her Student User account on her phone, typed in her password with deft keystrokes, and grinned as the Welcome page beamed up at her. She quickly located the big 'x' and tapped on it.

A new page opened - a screen that was blank except for a box at the bottom saying 'Enter your message here...", and a settings icon at the top right. Cinder opened the settings, looking to see who would be in this chat room, with her.

Her gaze scanned the list of names the first time, before she actually bothered to read them fully.

 _Aidan Carter_

 _Carswell Thorne_

 _Cinder Linh_

 _Crescent Darnel_

 _Èmilie Leroy_

 _Iko Williams_

 _Jacin Clay_

 _Kaito Tuan_

 _Liam Kinney_

 _Scarlet Benoit_

 _Winter Blackburn_

 _Ze'ev Kesley_

She only knew Thorne and Kai and had heard of Ze'ev, but no one else. Fortunately, all the girls were her friends, and they would be fine. Unfortunately, the chat room was monitored; Cinder chuckled to herself as she imagined the chat room censoring Scarlet's swearing.

Cinder typed in a message to them all, frowning as she realized that it put everyone's last names up, as well.

 _Cinder Linh has logged on._

 _Cinder Linh : Anyone there?_

 _Winter Blackburn has logged on._

 _Winter Blackburn : yep_

 _Carswell Thorne has logged on._

 _Carswell Thorne : present_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: do you have any idea how much i hate you?_

 _Carswell Thorne_ _: what could you have against a lovable sweetheart like me?_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: dont let me get started_

 _Crescent Darnel has logged on._

 _Crescent Darnel_ _: what did he do, Cinder?_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: dumped a bucket of ice water on my head. i dont want to know what was in that and i just took a shower_

 _Winter Blackburn_ _: lol sounds like thorne_

 _Carswell Thorne_ _: EXCUSE ME since when did i do anything worse than this_

 _Scarlet Benoit has logged on._

 _Scarlet Benoit_ _: lol where to start_

 _Kaito Tuan has logged on._

 _Winter Blackburn_ _: hey kai_

 _Kaito Tuan_ _: hey sweetheart_

 _Carswell Thorne_ _: see SOMEONE agrees that im a sweetheart_

 _Kaito Tuan : dont push it_

 _Winter Blackburn_ _: that wasnt meant for u thorne_

 _Carswell Thorne_ _: srsly no need to dash my hopes_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: there IS no hope_

 _Carswell Thorne_ _: hurtful_

 _Kaito Tuan_ _: where r u all_

 _Iko Williams has logged on._

 _Iko Williams_ _: english hnrs_

 _Iko Williams has logged off._

 _Cinder Linh_ _: lol typical iko_

 _Kaito Tuan_ _: yeah_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: im in free period. u?_

 _Kaito Tuan_ _: same_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: oh lol_

 _Scarlet Benoit_ _: lol im in physics but im memorizing a bunch of $#*(!_

 _Scarlet Benoit_ _: oh r u kidding it wont let me swear_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: rofl_

 _Crescent Darnel_ _: what did u expect? its run by the school_

 _Scarlet Benoit has logged off._

 _Winter Blackburn_ _: tru tru_

 _Ze'ev Kesley has logged on._

 _Ze'ev Kesley_ _: whats going on_

 _Kaito Tuan_ _: scroll up_

 _Ze'ev Kesley_ _: oh_

 _Ze'ev Kesley_ _: Scarlet... just try to memorize lol_

 _Crescent Darnel_ _: oh for theater?_

 _Ze'ev Kesley_ _: yeah_

 _Crescent Darnel_ _: i was partnered with thorne. we both memorized-ish_

 _Carswell Thorne_ _: great. havent even started_

 _Cinder Linh_ _: i pity cress_

Sighing, Cinder closed the window on her phone, logging off of the chat, and lying back on her bed. She wouldn't tell anyone else about Cress unless she had to - but she would _definitely_ be talking to Cress about this for a while after they came back.

Hopefully, it wouldn't take all night.

* * *

Cinder opened the book that Cress had given her, having nothing better to do - well, she didn't want to do homework just yet, anyway.

She read the title again. _Prodigy._ The second book in the _Legend_ trilogy, apparently; Cinder had to admit, though she wasn't really one for books, Cress's taste was pretty good. She actually liked _Legend,_ which was saying something, and she was starting to like _Prodigy,_ too.

 _"...Tess and I are a good match,"_ Cinder read. _"She understands intimately where I came from. She can cheer me up on my darkest days. It's as if she came perfectly happy home instead of what Kaede just told me. I feel a relaxing warmth at the thought, realizing suddenly how much I'm anticipating meeting up with Tess again. Where she goes, I go, and vice versa. Peas in a pod._

 _Then there's June._

 _Even the thought of her name makes it hard for me to breathe. I'm almost embarrassed by my reaction. Are June and I a good match? No. It's the first word to pop into my mind."_

Cinder slammed the book shut. The only pairing she'd actually supported in any story was being _broken up?_ They were perfect.

To add to the long chat she and Cress would be having... Cinder would rant about this, too. Wait. She was starting to sound like Cress... a little. Since when did she ever care? She crossed her arms over her chest, sighing.

Things were changing.

* * *

 **Hope you all liked that chapter! All credit for _Prodigy_ goes to Marie Lu!**

 _ **Question of the Day -**_ **What book is this quote from, and whose point of view is it in?: _"_ _I wanted to hurt him. To defend myself. To get revenge. To escape. But I didn't just hurt him. I made sure that he will never again lift a finger against me. In my fury, I killed him."_**

 **Leave a review as you go!**

 **~ Breathe the Shadows**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi, everyone! I'm back! Hope you all enjoyed the last chapter :) Thank you to _Vanessalightwood,_ _Burning Silver Storm, MastaGamerita, Introspectivepoet, PennTheWriter, TripleSalchowKw,_ and _LeapinGoldFish_ for reviewing the previous chapter.**

 **Congratulations to _PennTheWriter_ and _Burning Silver Storm_ for correctly guessing the book in the previous chapter. For those of you who didn't know, the quote was from _The Young Elites_ by Marie Lu (it's amazing), and it was from Adelina's point of view. (It's especially awesome because the main character is the villian :D)**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _Cress looked at Thorne, and_ nodded to him. She was ready. She let out a breath when he nodded back. So was he.

They had to be, because it was their turn.

Ms. Hayle had called out their group second-last in Theater, after three love scenes, a death scene, and two extremely comedic scenes. Fortunately, it was easier to act, as Ms. Hayle had changed the names in all of the scenes, which made the acting feel more realistic.

Cress swallowed nervously, _too_ aware of the stares of everyone else on her. She looked to Scarlet, across the room, as she stood, and saw her look away. Cress frowned, then tore her gaze away, too. _What's the matter with her?_

She slowly made her way to the front, facing directly forward so that she wouldn't be forced to meet the expectant stares of the other students. Ms. Hayle smiled enouragingly - but it didn't do much good. Cress was still shaking beneath her skin, her heart clinging to her rib cage. "Begin."

She'd memorized her lines - though it took some time, it wasn't too long.

Thorne was supposed to be... well... blind - and he opened his blue eyes wide, then crinkled them - as if he couldn't see anything. He sighed, fixing the audience with a blank stare. Cress cleared her throat. _"So... I guess you're... well... you can't see."_

She clasped her hands behind her back as she spoke, leaning slightly forward. Thorne turned his head from side to side, as if trying to tell where she was. _"You can say 'blind', Cress."_ Cress let a pause slide by, and waited for Thorne to speak again. _"So... what do you see out there?"_

Thorne waved a hand in the general direction of the audience. Cress had to admit, he was quite a good actor - and she wouldn't be the first girl to call him... well... good-looking. Okay, _handsome._ She stood on her tiptoes and lifted her head. Cress widened her eyes, as if in awe, and almost cringed at how fake it felt. She drew in a deliberate breath.

 _"Cress?"_

 _"It's... beautiful out there."_ Cress let her voice grow soft, hushed, as if she were awed - by the sight of the _back wall_. But apparently in the scene, there was supposed to be something out there, that wasn't seen.

Thorne let out a sigh. _"Could you be a little more specific?"_

 _"The sky is this gorgeous, intense blue color."_ Cress managed an awed smile and fanned her fingers out as she waved an arm out into the distance.

She heard Thorne snort from beside her, and immediately turned to look at him - as they had rehearsed in class yesterday - and her breath caught, Cress hardly believing that he could be such a good actor. _"Oh, good. You've really narrowed it down for me."_ Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

 _"I'm sorry... it's just..."_ Cress let her voice trail off, then pick up again. Her mouth went dry. What was she supposed to say? She frantically scanned the audience for a soothing face - and found herself looking at Thorne. She hoped she hadn't paused for too long... _oh, right!_ _"I think we're in a desert."_

 _"Cactuses and tumbleweed?"_

 _"No,"_ Cress replied, feeling the words stick to her tongue as she spoke. _"Just a lot of sand. It's kind of orange-ish gold, with hints of pink, and I can see..."_ She drew in a breath, as if still awed. _"...tiny clouds of it floating above the ground... like... like smoke."_

 _"Piled up in lots of hills?"_

 _"Exactly!"_ Cress forced false enthusiasm in her voice. _"And it's beautiful."_

Thorne snorted. _"If this is how you feel about a desert, I can't wait until you see your first real tree. Your mind will explode."_

Cress looked around at the audience, her gaze lingering for a moment longer on Scarlet. _End scene,_ she said, in her mind - but her throat was dry - too dry to let her say the words out loud. She turned her head to face Thorne, her gaze hopeful that he would say something.

She loosed a breath when she heard him say, "End scene."

Cress almost cried in relief as she sank back down into her seat, and the applause from the class started. She ducked her head, embarrassed. _I didn't do so well. They must have been clapping for Thorne._ Her heart sank. _He probably wishes he got a better partner._

Ms. Hayle started to address them both, as she had done to the other groups, too. "Well done, both of you. That... I thought it was college-level. Great job." Cress forced herself to look up as Ms. Hayle began talking to her, first. "Cress, I don't know what to say. That was wonderful acting, on your part. You paused at the right time, and your emotions were wonderful. The only thing is - I think you were trying a little too hard. Just relax, and your performance would have been perfect."

 _She's joking._ Cress drew in a breath. She was a _terrible_ actor.

"Thorne, you were wonderful, too. Your imitation of blindness was... well... _comical,_ to say the least." Ms. Hayle's words earned a few snickers from the other students. "Towards the end, you were looking a little less expressive, though, but that's almost nothing. Well done."

The other students clapped again.

Cress ducked her head, and looked around quickly.

Her happiness was short-lived as she realized that Scarlet was not clapping.

Looking away quickly, Cress found that she was looking at Thorne. Not only that... but _Thorne_ was looking back at _her._ Thorne, the boy with who was known to attract girls from everywhere, was looking at meek, dorky _her._

She saw him wink cheerfully, quirk his mouth into that familiar half-smile, and turn around. A silent congratulation.

"Scarlet and Ze'ev - Wolf!"

Cress looked up in surprise. Apparently there was a boy whose nickname was _Wolf..._ all right, then. Scarlet stood up silently, glanced at her with a silent glare, and waited as Wolf walked up beside her. This boy slightly taller than Scarlet, with a muscular build and bright green eyes.

 _"I just wanted to make sure you were all right,"_ the boy - Wolf - said, his voice calm as he stared at Scarlet, who was leaning against the board casually.

Scarlet pushed red hair from her eyes. _"I'm better off than Roland. His neck was starting to bruise when I left."_

Wolf shrugged. _"He deserved worse."_

Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest. _"I wish you hadn't gotten involved at all. I had the situation under control."_

 _"Clearly."_ Wolf's tone was sarcastic, but not completely - he still seemed a little quiet. Or maybe that was just the act? Cress wasn't so sure. _"_ _But I was worried you might draw that gun on him, and such a scene may not have helped your case. As far as not being crazy, that is."_

He shot Scarlet a half-smile, though he still looked a little embarrassed. Scarlet stared. _"How did you know?"_

 _"I saw the handle when you climbed up onto the counter."_ Another shrug. Cress watched intently as they paused, before Wolf spoke again. _"Do you have any more tomatoes? I'm still a little hungry."_ Wolf lowered his voice. _"I can pay."_

Scarlet smiled. _"No, that's all right. We have plenty."_ She reached behind her, turning for a moment and crouching - to pull something out, Cress figured. _"Here, these are good raw, too."_ She tossed some invisible objects to him, which he caught.

 _"What are they?"_

 _"They're carrots. Are you serious?"_ A laugh - a _too-false_ laugh left her mouth, and Cress flinched a little. It seemed too fake - but she didn't have any ground to call other people out on that, did she?

And besides, Scarlet wasn't known for her acting skills. She was only known for her sports skills.

 _"Thank you."_

 _"Your mom never made you eat your vegetables, did she?"_ A pause. _"Never mind. They're good, you'll like them."_

 _"I was wondering if you could use a farmhand."_ Wolf's question resulted in a deep intake of breath from Scarlet - which didn't feel quite real, either.

 _"You're looking for work?"_

 _"_ _The money's good at the fights, but it doesn't make much of a career. I thought maybe you could pay me in food."_

 _"After seeing the evidence of your appetite in there, I think I'd lose my shirt with a deal like that."_ Scarlet blushed a little - and this time, Cress figured that it was _actual_ embarrassment. She felt a pang of jealousy, that whenever she blushed ever-so-slightly, she turned bright red. _"What's your name, anyway?"_

 _"They call me Wolf at the fights."_

 _"Wolf? How... predatory. You might want to leave the street fighter part off your resume. Well, they call me Scarlet."_ Cress watched as they paused, then continued. _"I'm really sorry, but we have a full staff already. I don't need anymore farmhands."_

 _"I understand. Thank you for the food."_

 _"You should head to Toulouse, or even Paris. There are more jobs in the cities, and people around here don't take too kindly to strangers, as you may have noticed."_

 _"Thanks for the tip."_ Wolf paused. _"If you change your mind about needing a hand, I can be found at the abandoned Morel house most nights. I may not be great with people, but I think I'd do well on a farm. Animals love me."_

Cress watched as Wolf walked away, slowly, and Scarlet sighed. _"Oh, I'm sure they do. After all, what farm animals don't love a wolf?"_

Cress barely heard Scarlet say "End scene" before she burst out laughing, then lowered her head, embarrassed. But it _was_ funny. Ms. Hayle smiled. "Well done." Cress didn't bother listening to what she told Scarlet and Wolf...

Because Thorne was looking at her, again.

Swallowing a squeak of surprise, Cress lowered her head again, and kept her eyes on Ms. Hayle, uncomfortably aware of the fact that Thorne was still looking at her. As if on cue, the dismissal bell went off, and Cress blinked, surprised.

The class seemed to have gone rather quickly - too quickly, and Cress shot a brief glance at Thorne before she swung her backpack over her shoulder, though she wished she could have let her gaze linger more on his handsome features.

* * *

Cress tapped her pencil against her head. _X=0,_ _±√2,_ she wrote, but crossed out the _0_ with a dark mark.

Sighing, she scribbled down the final answer to her math homework - ±√2 - and tossed her notebook to the very edge of her bed, letting out a long sigh. _There._

"Are you done?" Cinder's voice came from across the room, and she turned her head to the side to see that she had already finished her homework, and had been waiting for her to finish. She nodded, her face growing warm. Cinder shrugged. "Good, because I was wondering... what are... _these?"_

Cress watched as Cinder brought down a small cardboard box and crossed over to sit on her bed. Before Cress could look inside, she flipped the box over and dumped the contents onto her bed and fixed her with a long look, crossing her arms.

 _Oh, stars, no._

Tiny slips of paper.

That's the first thing Cress saw.

Papers with red marker scribbled all over them.

Papers that Cress had abandoned a few days ago.

She hoped that she would never see them again.

A fool's hope.

It was pointless to hope for anything.

Before she could stop them, her eyes filled with tears. She didn't bother wiping them away before she looked up at Cinder, whose emotion didn't shift or waver. When she spoke, her voice was rigid with shock and horror - and came out with a choked sound - though she tried to feign nonchalance.

"Where did you get these?"

"From your suitcase." Cinder just stared at her, unmoving.

Cress buried her face in her arms, moments before the sobs hit. _How did she find it? How could she... I don't know what's going to happen next. What will she do with this? I hope she doesn't bring it up or anything... there's no telling what this person will do to me then._

Moments later, Cinder drew her into her arms, and Cress let her head rest on Cinder's shoulder.

For once, she didn't complain as the cold metal of Cinder's hand dug into her skin.

What could have been a moment or an hour passed, before Cinder grasped her shoulders and held her an arm's length away, staring at her intensely. "Cress," she said, and her voice was surprisingly gentle, "you could have told _any_ of us this, and we would only have tried to help you."

Cress's lip quivered. "P-please... don't t-tell anyone."

"I won't, Cress. I promise you that." Cinder sighed. "But you're being _bullied._ It's hard to just sit around and do nothing."

"Please... just leave it like this," Cress murmured, through sobs, and willed Cinder to understand. "Don't draw any more attention to it. _Please._ "

Cinder nodded. "I won't tell anyone, if that's what you want. But... it can only get worse."

"How much worse can it get?" Cress asked, hardly daring to put voice to the question. Her voice wavered as she spoke.

Cinder nodded and studied the notes briefly, squinting at the letters and running a non-metal finger over the words, as if she could feel their depth. After what seemed like ages, she looked up at Cress, her eyes hard. "I know who did this."

* * *

Kai drew in a long, shuddering breath.

His fingers flew shakily over the keypad, texting Winter.

 _Kai : please meet me in the courtyard by the big tree_

 _Winter_ _: sure_

 _Winter : when_

 _Kai_ _: now?_

 _Winter_ _: lol ok_

He closed his eyes briefly. Knowing Winter, it would take her about ten minutes longer than him to get to said courtyard, so he had time. _Stars... I can't do this. I wish someone could help me do this... she'll hate me, probably..._

 _How can I ever convince her?_

 _If she knows me well, she'll understand... maybe..._

 _But she won't like it._

Kai ran a hand through his messy black hair, breathing in as he put on a pair of sneakers and stepped out the door, calling "I'll be back soon!" to Thorne after he left. Once out of his dorm, he froze. _How do I say this? I... can't... this is so hard._

 _But she won't like it._

Of course she wouldn't. Kind, sweet Winter would never imagine that he would tell her this, he reflected, as he walked out of the dorm building doors.

 _But she won't like it._

Well, what was he supposed to do?

 _But she won't like it._

The words taunted him, circling him like a vulture circling its prey.

He was surprised to find that Winter, for once, had realized his urgency and was already waiting. He managed a small, shaky grin, and Winter smiled back, beauty radiating from every feature. He held her hand, once, then grasped it tighter.

"Can we just be friends?"

Winter's concerned expression broke into a relieved laugh. "Of course! We already _are-"_

"No." _No, no, no..._ "I mean _just_ friends." Kai's hands grew clammy as Winter stared at him in surprise. Her disbelieving expression tore him in two. She finally seemed to understand what he meant.

"Kai... I... why would you say that? Aren't you happy with me?"

Kai fidgeted nervously. "Yeah, of course I am... but... I feel like you deserve someone better. I know... it'll take both of us a while to get used to this, but... you'll find someone even better than me. Really." He nodded, emphasizing his words.

"No, I won't! How can you just... _say_ that?" Winter took one look at his all-too-serious face and turned and ran back to the building. Kai sighed, ramming his hands into his pockets and watching her go.

 _That went well..._

* * *

 **Okay, that had to happen. You all know that. I hope you don't mind that I put a bit of Kai's POV in too.**

 _ **Question of the Day -**_ **What book is this from?: _"I'd rather die than live with no mercy, no honor, no soul."_**

 **Leave a review!**

 **~ Breathe the Shadows**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back!**

 **Okay, as of now I can't find much to write for Winter, so only a small part of this chapter will be in her point of view. Seriously, there will be more of the other three than of Winter.**

 **Thank you to _PenntheWriter, TripleSalchowKw, MusicalArtist185, abymkray, ChemicallyYours, Guest, kandyloverland, Guest, Lunartic Cress, millie1301,_ and _Guest_ for reviewing!**

 **The answer was _An Ember in the Ashes_ by Sabaa Tahir. The quote is in Elias's point of view. Congratulations to _TripleSalchowKw_ and _ChemicallyYours_ for guessing the title correctly!**

 **Note: the ages may be mixed up, because Levana is a student while Sybil is Cress's aunt.**

 **Let's continue!**

* * *

 _Winter cursed vibranty as her_ swinging feet accidentally kicked something forward. From where she sat in the front row, she widened her eyes as a rather large wad of paper flew forward and hit the teacher on the back of her knees.

Mrs. Channary - the worst teacher in the school - whipped around, her amber eyes frowning at the class. She was beautiful - Winter would give her that - but she had a _not-so-beautiful_ personality. A terrible English teacher.

"Who threw that?"

Mrs. Channary's voice was sweet with false honey, but her expression radiated fury. No one answered, of course - not even Winter. She technically hadn't _thrown_ it, but had accidentally kicked it. Somehow, she didn't think Mrs. Channary would find a difference.

Oh, Winter was _good_ at looking innocent.

Just then, the bell rang, and Winter could barely stifle a sigh of relief.

"Trust me!" came the awful caw of Mrs. Channary's voice behind her, as she practically sprinted out the door, with her classmates. "I _will_ find out who threw that! And they will have detention every day for the rest of the year!"

As if her life wasn't bad enough already, to be honest.

She had lost Kai, in a matter of moments. He thought she deserved _better._ How much better could a boyfriend get? There wouldn't be anyone to fully replace him... but Winter couldn't help but think that there was probably someone else out there who would soon take a liking to her.

Hopefully.

At least they were still friends. Well, Winter wasn't going to speak to him for at least a week... but other than that, they would probbably be friends. And none of her friends had crushes, yet. Cress included. That no longer would set her apart.

She was really desperate to find the bright side of this.

It might take a day or two to find it in her heart to accept what Kai wanted. Maybe she would find someone better. Not that Kai was _bad_ or anything, but that someone who would stay with her longer, who would really, fully love her.

Or that was a foolish hope.

Or maybe not.

Winter blinked a tear back and sighed. Hopefully her life would get better.

* * *

Cress threw down her pencil after scribbling down the limit of _x_ as it approached infinity, looking up, a little startled as the loudspeaker crackled, signifying that someone was going to speak through it to the entire school.

 _"May we have Crescent Darnel to room B114, please? Crescent Darnel, room B114."_ It was an automated female voice.

Cress turned around. "You heard that," Cinder said from across the room, shrugging. "They want you in room B114."

"But it's _after school,_ " Cress stated plainly, though she got to her feet and started toward their dorm room's door. "They almost never call students after school. And what's in B114, anyway?" Cinder grinned sheepishly, though she didn't say anything to clarify.

"Here," Cinder said, looking to Cress as though she was fighting a smile. "Take this." She thrust two pieces of folded paper at Cress, who took them, puzzled. "Whatever you do, _don't_ open them until you get inside the room. And, open the blue one, first."

Cress shrugged. "Okay..."

"Go. Good luck." Cinder waved a hand.

"Good luck for what?" Cress called, but Cinder had already turned back to her desk to finish her homework. Sighing, she shoved both pieces of paper - one blue, one pink - in the pocket of her sweatshirt, stepped outside, and closed the door behind her.

 _Room B114._

That would be the building right across from the dorm building, on the bottom floor. Cress made her way downstairs and stepped out the door into the courtyard. It was slightly breezy, and Cress almost cringed as her unbound hair went flying in all directions.

Her cursed hair.

She realized that Cinder hadn't actually told her who was writing those messages to her... apparently she needed to be able to _'make sure'_ that it was whoever she had in mind. And hadn't bothered to drop even a hint before she went to sleep.

Cress sighed as she entered the B building and walked down the hall to where B114 should be. What could they possibly want from her?

Quietly, so as to not draw attention to herself, Cress opened the door to room B114 a tiny slit, and peeked inside. There were at least fifty students in there. She opened the door wider, thanking the stars when it didn't creak, and slunk inside.

The teacher in that room noticed, however. It was _her theater teacher._ Miss Solstice Hayle.

Not that it was a problem. If she was in trouble, she'd rather talk it over with a teacher she actually recognized.

Recalling the two slips of paper Cinder had given her, to open once she was inside, Cress silently pulled out the blue one, and read the words scribbled on it. It wasn't in the anonymous message-writer's handwriting, fortunately, but rather, in Cinder's handwriting. _Just play along. Please._

Cress blinked in surprise. What was this place, anyway? And if Cinder had to _actually tell her_ to play along, it wasn't going to be good.

Before she could open the second piece of paper, Miss Hayle smiled. "How nice of you to join us, Crescent. I had them ask for you on the loudspeaker to make sure you didn't forget and miss out on this opportunity."

"W-what?" Cress couldn't help the fact that her voice came out as a squeak.

"This is auditions for drama, Crescent. I was just about to play the video of the song you all should have prepared. I hope you all brought lyrics and have listened to this song at least once." She smiled sweetly, before going back to her laptop and connecting it to the projector.

 _No wonder_ Cinder just wanted her to play along. She knew that Cress would have refused.

She pulled out the pink slip of paper and read it. It was the lyrics to a song... probably the song that she was supposed to have listened to, and the one she was supposed to audition with. She groaned internally. Cinder hadn't missed a thing.

Cress looked up as Miss Hayle began speaking again. "I hope you all know, before we start, that this year, we will be doing Disney's _Pocahontas,_ slightly more cheerful than last year's _Romeo and Juliet._ " Cinder had said that they would be doing _The Little Mermaid_ when they had first met... but that was close enough. "Girls, I will be playing 'Part of Your World' twice, so you can remember it better. Boys, I hope you can all keep in mind the song I just played until your name is called."

It _did_ make sense that she had played a song already for the boys. Something that their voices were capable of.

Cress drew in a breath. _Just play along._

And closed her eyes, listening to the voice of Ariel singing 'Part of Your World'. In that time when Aunt Sybil had locked her in a room for two weeks with nothing but a computer, aside from learning to hack by herself, she had watched _The Little Mermaid_ for the first time and had taken a liking to this song.

Before she realized it, the song was over.

Cress hadn't really paid much attention, but fortunately, Miss Hayle would be playing the song again. _Just play along, for Cinder's sake._

 _I'm not going to get a part, anyway._

She cracked her eyes open to stare at the paper with lyrics, letting the melodious voice fill her head. She could visualize the way her lips moved, all over again, just like she had those days so long ago. And then, it was over.

Miss Hayle clapped her hands twice. "Then, let's get started, shall we? First up, Aelia Roberts."

Cress almost tuned out the tall, dark-haired girl's voice, thinking. Cinder... she would really _kill_ her. Well, not really. She probably wouldn't have the courage to do it anyway. Did she _really_ want to go through with this?

Eh. Well. It didn't matter. She wasn't going to make it to call backs anyway. But her voice would probably die. What if they all laughed at her?

She spotted a familiar pair of blue eyes staring at her, and she turned to find the source. It was _Carswell Thorne,_ that boy from her theater class. He was staring at her with that handsome half-smile that made Cress want to just stare at him forever.

Wait. What?

What was she thinking?

She didn't _like_ Thorne. And stars, there was _no way_ he could actually like her.

Still, as she turned away, trying to ignore it, a small smile crept onto her lips as the image of his face stuck in her mind. Then, she stiffened. What if _he_ laughed at her? Well, he couldn't _do_ anything bad to her, but... she somehow didn't want to look bad in front of him.

Out of the people that went, there were one or two _un_ forgettable ones. One girl decided to go all opera on it, and sang an octave higher than should be possible. And a boy - the boys were singing 'I'll Make a Man Out of You' from _Mulan -_ decided to sing super deep to the point that it was almost impossible to hear him.

Then, _too_ soon, it was Carswell Thorne singing.

He sauntered up to the front with a grin at the crowd, and began singing.

Stars, his voice was powerful. Not too deep, not too high-pitched. Just... perfect. His voice was rich and smooth, and as he read from his sheet, every line flowed out of him as smoothly as a flowing river of starlight. His voice just was so strong, so powerful, that it hurt.

Okay, to put it simply, he was a wonderful singer.

Thorne was _definitely_ going to get the part of the male lead - John Smith, or something like that. It was really obvious, by the way he was singing. How could someone so playful and funny actually be so _amazing_ at something like this?

It was over too soon.

And, what do you know, it was her turn, next.

These auditioners were allowed to leave as soon as they had finished singing. But no, Thorne didn't. He just _had_ to stay there and wait for her to finish singing, just to make her feel _even more_ embarrassed and awkward than she already felt.

He sat there, now, at the front, watching with that same half-smile on his unfairly-handsome face.

Cress almost winced and shrunk against the wall as Miss Hayle called out her name, but she forced her leaden feet to move and carry her to the front of the classroom. _Don't look at them, Cress. Look away. Stare at the wall, or at the floor._

She forced the bile in her throat back down, and cleared her throat, her hands shaking to the point that she nearly dropped the pink piece of paper in her hands, which contained the lyrics to 'Part of Your World'. _Just play along. For Cinder's sake._

 _It doesn't matter. You're not going to make it to call backs, anyway. Just don't embarrass yourself._

 _You love singing, Cress. Just do it, this once._

Cress dropped her gaze to the piece of paper in her hands... making _sure_ that she didn't look up, even once, to see the other students' reaction, as she drew in a long breath, forced her throat to relax, and began to sing with all her heart.

 _"Look at this stuff_

 _Isn't it neat?_

 _Wouldn't you think m_ _y collection's complete?_

 _Wouldn't you think I'm the girl_

 _Girl who has everything?_

 _Look at this trove_

 _Treasures untold_

 _How many wonders can one cavern hold?_

 _Lookin' around, you would think_

 _Sure, she's got everything."_

Cress dared to sneak a peek at the other students, some of whom were gaping. In horror or in awe, she wasn't sure. But she saw that Thorne, _Carswell Thorne,_ was staring at her with his eyes wide, definitely transfixed.

The words poured melodiously out of her mouth before she even realized it, sounding almost _natural,_ as if they actually belonged in her throat. _Her_ throat, which was capable of making songs that sounded as if they were sung by dying cows.

Still, it felt utterly natural, and Cress didn't resist the words as they left her mouth in a mellow tune.

 _"I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty._

 _I've got whozits and whatzits galore._

 _You want thingamabobs? I've got twenty._

 _But who cares?_

 _No big deal_

 _I want more."_

Cress dragged out the word _more_ longer than might have been necessary, but she heard a few intakes of breath. She had _definitely_ overdone it. They all had already realized what an awful voice she had, that she was incapable of singing well.

But she tried to ignore them, making herself as small as she possibly could while standing up and reading from the lyric paper.

 _"I wanna be where the people are._

 _I wanna see, wanna see 'em dancin',_

 _Walkin' around on their - whaddya call them? - oh, feet._

 _Flippin' your fins you don't get too far._

 _Legs are required for jumpin', dancin',_

 _Strolling along down a - what's that word again? - street."_

Cress drew in a long breath for the part she loved best in the song, the most melodious, fluid part, in her opinion.

 _"Up where they walk,_

 _Up where they run,_

 _Up where they stay all day in the sun,_

 _Wanderin' free, wish I could be_

 _Part of that world._

 _What would I give i_ _f I could live, out of these waters?_

 _What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?_

 _Betcha on land, they understand_

 _That they don't reprimand their daughters._

 _Bright young women_

 _Sick o' swimmin'_

 _Ready to stand."_

Cress clutched the paper even tighter, feeling tears sting at the corners of her eyes as she heard a muffled scoff from somewhere in the crowd of students watching her. Yes, that did it. They all knew that she was horrible at singing.

She just wanted to really collapse, or have the ground open and swallow her up so that she wouldn't have to continue, at this point.

 _"I'm ready to know what the people know._

 _Ask 'em my questions, and get some answers._

 _What's a fire, and why does it - what's the word? - burn?"_

That was by far her favorite line... the one she had always kept repeating in her head for that entire time when Sybil had kept her locked up. She hadn't forgotten it, and it seemed to ring a bell somewhere deep inside her mind.

 _"When's it my turn?_

 _Wouldn't I love,_

 _Love to explore that shore up above?_

 _Out of the sea,_

 _Wish I could be,_

 _Part of that world."_

She held the last note, not bothering, this time, whether it was overdone or not. She didn't care who scoffed, this time. Cress just _needed_ to let that note out, that entire breath... it relieved her, somehow, and made her feel as if something heavy had lifted.

"Thank you, Crescent." Miss Hayle's voice made her look up at her, and she almost cringed at the smile on her face. She practically _ran_ out of the classroom, throwing open the door, not bothering when the heads stared at her receding back.

She had barely made it out of the classroom, the door closed, when the sobs hit.

Cress pressed her back against the wall, not bothering to wipe away the flood of tears that poured down her already-red face. Her skin suddenly felt hot against the salty moisture that flowed down her cheeks, and she felt _too_ small.

Not just physically, though she was only five feet. But there was _nothing_ she could do right, anymore. One hand balled into a loose fist and rubbed the tears from her right eye.

 _Why did you bother, Cress? Why waste your time just to have everyone laugh at you?_

She slumped to the ground, her knees bent in front of her. She buried her face in her hands, slumped forward, and tried to keep the sobs as quiet as possible, feeling a tinge of frustration as her hair, drapped and curled around her in messy tangles, grew sweaty and uncomfortable.

Cress drew in a breath. _Shut up, Cress,_ a small voice at the back of her mind said, growing louder with every syllable. _No one wants to hear the little five-foot, immature crybaby whining about everything. It's annoying._

She scrunched her eyes shut, just wanting to stay there, her red face buried in her hands, until the wounds healed.

What a fantasy. They would never heal.

Moments later, the door was opened again, and shut. Cress didn't bother to look up to see who it was, until a comforting hand rested on her shoulder. Brushing long strands of hair out of her eyes, she looked up, in surprise, to see Carswell Thorne kneeling beside her.

"Are you okay?" The taller boy's eyes sparked with sympathy, and his face was somehow comforting to look into. "I just wanted to tell you that you were just _amazing._ No one can argue. You have an _awesome_ voice."

"What?" Cress's voice caught in her throat. "No, I don't."

Thorne stared at her as if she was not in her right mind. "Are you insane? Of course you were! Why would you think otherwise?"

"There was that girl," Cress began, her face going red again as an uncontrollable sob cut off her words, "who was just... mocking me, and scoffing at me the entire time." The words hurt a lot, but she forced them out of her throat.

He stared at her for a moment, then grinned - that charming grin that made his already-handsome face even more so. "That's just Levana. No one cares what she thinks. Everyone knows she wants the lead role, and just insults anyone into getting what she wants."

"So... you don't think I'm a complete failure?"

Thorne's arm wrapped around both her shoulders. "Of course not!"

"Or an insult to singing?"

"You're too hard on yourself."

"Or just a horrible person who can't do anything right?"

"Honestly, Crescent, you're not."

 _Really? Because what I'm telling you is pretty much identical to my actual opinion of myself,_ she wanted to say, but of course, she didn't say that out loud. Instead, she said quietly, trying to make herself smaller in his comforting grip, "I go by Cress."

His grin grew wider, if that was possible. "Thorne."

Cress nodded and shrunk, uncomfortably close to him. She had never made any sort of _physical contact,_ not even hugging, with any boy... and it really felt wonderful to have someone who seemed to care, even for a moment.

Really? He didn't care. He was just making sure she was okay.

But Thorne seemed to notice that she was uncomfortable, and removed his hand from around her shoulders. He just helped her to her feet. "Cress... believe in yourself. You're... you seem like a great person, you know."

Cress's face warmed, even more, as she rose beside him, realizing that she only came up to his neck. Thorne grinned. "Hope to see you around." And with a wave, he smiled - not grinned - gently at her before walking away to exit.

Cress counted to ten, in her head, until he disappeared from sight.

And followed.

* * *

 **It took a little longer to update this time. Sorry about that. And I don't own _The Little Mermaid, Mulan,_ or _Pocahontas._**

 _ **Question of the Day -**_ **What book is this from?: _"All I know about Shakespeare is that he stole my name and spelled it wrong."_**

 **Review!**

 **~ Breathe the Shadows**


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